194J, YEAR. OF CR.ISIS T HE two girls got on the down- town Fifth Avenue bus atSev- enty-second Street and found seats on the upper deck. The bus was not crowded-it was after ten in the morning-but none of the double seats was empty, so they decided on the long seat which runs the width of the bus at the rear. Both girls were conspicu- ously well dressed. Each carried a large, square calfskin bag. Neither was pretty but both had that freshness of complex- ion-heightened by the sharp, autumn air-which is the special mark of the late teens. One girl was tall and rangy, the other short an,d soft, but they were alike in their clear, bright eyes and in the lack of ease with which they wore their brand-new finery. The occupants of the rear seat, an elderly Negro woman and a clerkish man with a copy of the Daily Worker, slid to the windows to make room for them. They settled themselves comfort- ably, stretching their nyloned legs. The short one got a compact from her bag and dabbed at her nose, while the tall one flipped open her coin purse and searched. "Honestly," she said, but she pro- nounced it in the slurred accents of Farmington and Simsbury, something like "arnessy." Her voice was clear and loud; it carried above the rattle and roar of the bus. "Honestly! What a dope I am!" "What's the matter?" "I went and left all my money at home. Honestly, what a dope!" "I'll lend you a dime." "You're a pa1." The short girl gave her a dime and each inserted a coin in the conductor's receIver. "Honestly," said the tall girl, giggling as he moved away, "there ought to be charge accounts on the buses for dopes like me. Can you take me to lunch? I only eat a sandwich and maybe salad and some French pastry or something." "That's all right. I'll take you." "I'll take you next time." She found a crumpled pack of Luck- ies in her bag and offered it to her com- panion. The first match blew out in the draft from an open window ahead, but the second worked. Both girls smoked inexpertly, not inhaling, overly con- scious of their cigarettes, tapping them every few seconds to shake off the al- most indiscernible ash. The tall girl reopened the conversa- tion. "I've got a blank check at Saks today." "Honestly? " "Yeah. I kept after Mother. I told her if it's going to be such a deadly win- ter, at least I had to have a little money to spend. At least." "What are you going to buy?" "I dunno. Things. Bathing suits, I guess, in case we go to Florida after Christmas. She wouldn't look so good in a bathing suit." "Your mother?" "Honestly!" said the tall gir1. "Don't be such a dope!" "0 h-her! " The tall girl nodded. "She gets away with murder in ordinary clothes, but a bathing suit would show her up, all right. Her age, I mean." "How old is she, anyway?" "She says she's only twenty-six but I'll bet she isn't a minute under thirty." "I don't think she looks that old." The tall girl snorted, choked on cigarette smoke, and tears came to her eyes. "Lemme a handkerchief." She wiped her eyes and stepped on her cig- arette. "She's clever, that's why. She takes you in just like she takes in the " men. "I don't know where she finds any men these days." "She finds 'em. Anything with pants on comes into town, she'll find it. At the Denisons' she turned up with an ensign. An ensign! I'll bet he was five years younger than her." The short girl sighed. "I know a lot of ensigns, but they all got sent some- place." The tall girl nodded. "Like Rick. He actually asked for sea duty. Honestly- when he could have stayed at 90 Church and all the swell parties. I told him if he didn't make my party, he needn't think I'd speak to him after the war." "Will he make it?" "No. He's out in the Pacific somewhere. I never get a break. It'll be a wonder if I don't get stuck at my own party. I don't see why I had to come out at a time like this." "It's tough, all right," agreed the short gir1. The Negro woman rose to her feet as the bus passed Fifty-eighth. She clutched the signal cord and moved to- ward the aisle. She lurched as the bus slowed and stumbled across the tall girl's legs. MlUTIbling an apology, she groped her way down the aisle. "Honestly!" said the tall gir1. "The consideration of some people! These darkies think they own these bus- }JL 43 J:aúrador Mil1K The finest. mink in t.he world. The skins are small, densely furred. blue- black in color, light in weight and of superb silk- ines's. Each season only a limited number of true Labrador skins are pl'lted. We have sufficient to make a few coat.s priced from S t 750 to $7950. tax extra. .. . - ,,,,"' Ii , . .\1 A , , \ t ,.., " .. ,> ....... ',"" -""1" Cun,Apr 666 FIFTH AVE. AT 53rd ST., N. y